It's All Between the Ears
by Lani Carmine
Summary: Genderbend/AU- Sam Kirk was a little protective of his little sister, Jane. Ok, maybe a lot protective, but arguing with the commanding officers of the Enterprise where she's acting as the temporary psychologist during an emergency mission so they'll LISTEN and NOT die ISN'T overprotective! As much as he loved Pike, the man was stubborn, not to mention his First Officer... Fem!Kirk
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Star Trek, in case you were wondering.**

**AN: IDK if this is a prologue or a first chapter so much as a little of both, since this is a major AU (yet not, you'll get it) and I felt the need to explain some of the differences, though I didn't feel like simply rewriting some of the scenes in the movie closely enough to do it. This chapter will be mainly, if not entirely from Sam's POV; you'll see why. Also I'm kinda copping out right here by telling you this is a genderbend and not typing out the birth scene, so yeah. Jane (Janie) Tabitha Kirk is a girl. So there you go. Lastly I'm sorry for the lack of dialogue; I'm just not that good at it.**

Samuel George Kirk blazed down the empty dirt-road leading away from his pathetic excuse of a family home in the old, dusty convertible that his goddamned stepfather was so goddamned proud of, even if it wasn't his, but his actual father's. The thought of drunk old Frank being proud anything would've made him snort if he hadn't realized the previous evening how true it was when he'd heard him negotiating a wickedly high price for it on the phone. That's what had brought him to this. There was no way in _hell_ he was letting that monster sell his father's car, the one and only thing belonging to George Kirk that Winona had ever kept, to his knowledge, anyway.

He was just sorry that he'd dragged his poor little sister into it. He knew she didn't deserve the punishment she was probably going to end up getting for leaving the house anyway. Sam looked over at his sister with a twinge of regret. Maybe he shouldn't have done this. Frank never let her out of the house, except for school, and even then he constantly insisted that she wear long pants and shirts, and now Sam was starting to understand why. Looking over at his sister, arms clasped over her knees curled tightly into her chest and wide-eyed, he glanced remorsefully at the scrapes and bruises littering her arms and legs. The bastard had abused her; ever since Sam grew old enough to start fighting back he'd taken to abusing his sister.

'Fucking coward' Sam thought angrily, though he wasn't entirely sure who he was angry at, Frank, or himself. His hands tightened around the wheel as he felt himself flush with shame. How had he not _noticed_?! As soon as Frank had stopped beating him he'd felt a relief unlike any he'd ever known, and he'd been too wound up in himself to notice that his sister had become more and more withdrawn, taking on more of the household chores, especially cooking. 'She probably did it in hopes of appeasing him.' Little Janie had grown so melancholy he'd taken to calling her blue jay, which, now that he thought on it was not only mocking, but cruel. Sam felt nauseated with self-loathing; it was his job to protect his sister, since there mother was never there to do it, and he'd failed. Briefly taking in his terrified little sister's bruised limbs once again, he felt horrified at just how terribly he had failed.

So it shocked him, when they drove through the barrier that indicated they were about to truly hit rock-bottom, his sister leapt from her seat with an almost squeak, tackling him and knocking both of them over the top the door (the roof had flown off some time ago) and out of the speeding vehicle, onto the hard dirt ground right before it sped off a cliff into nothingness. All he could do was blink up at her shock. She, however, was curling up into his chest, the muffled sounds of words coming out between her hiccupping and tears. "Please, Sammy, don't do that again. Don't ever do that again. I need you. Please don't leave me. Please don't do that again…"

She had saved his life, but not just his life, both of their lives. His little blue jay had just saved his life. How could he have been so irresponsible as to think that she would jump out of the car on her own? Sam put his arm around his little sister, his little Janie, and made a vow to himself right there and then that he would change, that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe; he would no longer be the terrible brother that he was, not as long as Jane was there, not as long as she needed him…

SEVERAL YEARS LATER ON TARSUS IV

The famine had stricken them all terribly. His little sister was literally wasting away before him and there was nothing he could do about it, nothing he could do to keep his vow, no matter how hard he tried, and oh, had he tried. After the incident with the convertible, the police had stepped in and Frank had been sent to jail for child abuse and neglect; Winona was nearly brought up on the same charges until he had objected that there really was nothing she could have done, having been off-world and out-of-touch too often and too long to really take notice. Having grown up with her when their father was still alive, Sam knew that she cared for them, just not enough to be there. Her profound grief drove her to work constantly in order to prevent severe depression from taking over. In the end she was deemed unfit to be their guardian and they were sent to live with her brother and his wife on the Terran colony.

The next several years on the colony couldn't be called anything but peaceful. Luckily his sister hadn't been at all offended at his continued use of her old nickname, and, her having grown quite fond of listening to and mimicking the wide variety of birdcalls that were to be found the tropical planet, it only became more appropriate, and when their aunt and uncle learned of it, it simply stuck. Despite no longer being forced to do so, she displayed a continued desire to cook and bake, and became quite infamous for her white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Jane was still shy, though she became much more willing to come out of her shell as she grew older. Sam was immensely proud of his sister for her strength and capacity for forgiveness, even if he was rather envious of the latter, as he could not find it in himself to forgive anyone for anything as easily as his sister did, especially when it came to hurting her. He had to be a good older brother after all; he'd learned his lesson.

When the famine came, however, there was nothing he could do about it; there was no brotherly act he could perform that would relieve her hunger, no brotherly affection he could show that could ease the ache in her belly, no brotherly, protective hugs he could give her to raise the skin from her bones. They all did their best, gathering roots from wild plants, the only things that were barely edible, parsing them, boiling them, mashing them down to almost nothing before they could even be ingested, paranoid of possibly eating the poisonous heavy metals that made the other parts of the planet's wild greenery inedible. They shuddered every time they passed the bright, wild berries that their aunt and uncle had eaten to test if they were safe, only to find a few hours later that they weren't.

Sam tried every evening to push his tiny share of bland, sticky gray mass onto her plate, only to have it shoved directly in his face on her spoon. Jane knew very well what he was trying to do, but she was having none of it, insistent that he would need the energy to look for more tomorrow and that that was the best way to look out for her and he could not deny that; the roots were getting harder to find by the day, and the even smaller rations given to them by Kodos barely provided enough energy to dig them up, let alone go farther into the dense forests looking for them. Never before the famine had Sam a reason to curse Tarsus IV's hot, humid climate, that now zapped too much of his, everyone's strength daily. Helplessness consumed him as he watched his little blue jay finish her meager plate of "food", sighing almost imperceptibly as she did so.

Before he could say anything, make her reassurances of some sort, a sharp knock came at the door. They both jerked up, startled, and both walked hurriedly to see who it was. Sam knew Janie hoped against hope that Starfleet would come, just as fervently as he despaired that they never would, though he always displayed the opposite, if only for her sake. Upon opening the door, the siblings felt a little stunned to see a man with a long phaser standing there…

WHOAH, CLIFFHANGER! I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS FROM THERE THOUGH, SO, EVEN MORE YEARS LATER, BACK ON EARTH

Working as a bartender at the local bar was not an easy job for Sam G. Kirk. It especially wasn't an easy job when people acted inappropriately towards the wait staff. Add on the fact that the wait staff currently being acted inappropriately towards was his little sister and goddammit if he wasn't gonna get fired for assaulting a customer, _again_. Sam was in the midst of filling a rather large drink order from a rather pretty dark skinned Starfleet cadet when he heard a squeak followed by the sound of a tray being dropped. Looking up abruptly he saw another, rather large Starfleet cadet with his hand on his little Janie's skirt and before the idiot knew what hit him (literally) Sam had leapt over the bar and had promptly begun breaking his face.

Faintly he heard Janie's distressed calls of "Sammy, don't! I'm okay! You'll get fired again!" But something in the back of his mind snapped that it was too late, and he stalled as his sister fell silent, terrified that he might have spoken that thought aloud. However, when he looked up he noticed that a graying man in a black Starfleet uniform was snapping at people to get out, which the cadets did with particular urgency, excepting the groaning man beneath him. Janie, head down, tried quickly to skirt around him but let out another, quieter squeak when the man, officer, he corrected himself, laid a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, gently telling her to stay put. Sam glared up at the stranger's offered hand and got up by himself, putting a protective arm around Janie who shrunk in on herself guiltily, trying to attract as little attention as possible.

"Go on and get yourself patched up, Cupcake." The man sighed exasperatedly at the cadet still sprawled on the floor, who struggled to his feet, glaring and muttering insults on his way out. "Why don't we sit down and talk?" the officer more ordered than asked, looking at them both interestedly. Sam huffed, but did as he was told; Starfleet officers are the worst people to go around punching. Janie meekly sat down in the chair next to him, still not looking up, and the officer sat across from them both.

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike." He stated, extending his hand in greeting.

"Sam Kirk." Pike's eyebrows rose at that, then even more so when Sam simply stared at his hand, refusing to take it, and he started to retract it.

"Um, Jane…" Sam's little sister mumbled before she briefly glanced at Pike's face and, giving his hand a brief, timid shake, withdrew it just as quickly and began fiddling with her hair. His eyebrows rose even further, if that were at all possible.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet the both of you. Y'know I was friends with your father back at the Academy," Jane straightened up a little hearing that, focusing her gaze on Pike, though her fingers never left her dark blonde locks. Sam merely narrowed his eyes. "And he used to tell me all the time about how proud he was of his son." Here he looked pointedly at Sam, who crossed his arms and looked away. "Now I come across you all grown up and getting into _bar fights_? At your _own job_?" he proclaimed incredulously. "And from what I've heard this isn't your first time, either." Jane squirmed in her seat uncomfortably. She knew they were all her fault; her brother was only ever protecting her.

"It's none of your business what I do or don't do, however you knew my father." Sam spat cuttingly.

Jane furrowed her brow, opening her mouth as if she might object- "Yeah, but don't you think you were meant for something _greater_?" Pike interjected, beating her to it. "You have so much potential, you _both_ do," Jane's jaw snapped shut and she shrank back in her seat, not expecting to be brought into this, "And yet you squander it away by staying here, taking one meaningless job after another until you get fired. Do you really enjoy being the only genius repeat offender in the Midwest?" Sam's teeth clenched. "Especially when you're not the only one you have to worry about?"

_That_ got to him. Instantly Sam straightened in his seat, sending a worried, guilt-ridden glance at his little Janie, who looked for the entire world like she wanted to be anywhere else right now, brow furrowed in anguish as her fingers twisted her hair even more tightly around her knuckles.

"I-," he hesitated. What is it to this stranger, this Starfleet Captain, what he did with his life, how he took care of his sister? Yet his tone of voice seemed to imply that he _cared_, he really and truly _cared_ what happened to them, and it had been a long time since he'd heard that. Looking him once again in the face he found that the man was being completely honest with him, even if he had some sort of inscrutable glint in his eye.

"Why don't you try Starfleet? Follow in your father's footsteps?"

"What?" Sam blinked. Jane relaxed her grip slightly, tilting her head curiously at his proposition.

"If you don't like it, you can always catch a shuttle right back here; I think I could even persuade the Academic Council to give you both full scholarships to the Academy, provided you're willing to put in the effort of course." Pike smirked.

Sam turned to gaze thoughtfully at his little blue jay, only to belatedly realize the continuing accuracy of that nickname as blue eyes brighter than a winter sky gazed back him. He rolled his eyes at his little sister's antics, knowing he could never say no when she looked at him like that, and that, even if she wouldn't go without him, he would never live it down if he didn't. She had always admired Starfleet, even if it was what kept their mother away from them. Once again the envy of her capacity for forgiveness crept up on him.

"Yeah, I guess…we could…give it a shot…" he sighed. If that's where his sister wanted to go, then he would go to, if only to make her happy.

"Shuttle leaves at 0900 tomorrow morning." Pike smiled before getting up and extending his hand once again for Sam to shake. Huffing, he reluctantly did so this time around. Jane, in contrast, grasped the captain's hand in both of hers and bounced up and down, squealing excitedly.

"Thankyouthankyou_thankyou_! Oh, we won't let you down sir, I promise!" Then, realizing what she just did, her eyes widened almost comically as she snapped her hands back to herself and mumbled something about collecting their final paycheck before scurrying towards the manager's office, hiding behind a curtain of hair. Pike simply shook his head and took his leave, grinning.

THE NEXT MORNING

Arriving just after 0830 with all their most essential belongings stuffed into duffel bags slung over their shoulders, brother and sister approached the dock yard, gazing up in awe at the nearly completed starship being built.

"Nice to see you, Mr. and Ms. Kirk." A familiar voice prodded them out of their wonderings. Pike smirked amusedly while getting a random cadet to take their bags.

Once they stepped onto the shuttle Sam felt more than a little out of place to see that they were the only ones _not_ wearing a Starfleet-issued uniform. He hid that discomfort upon noticing a certain bald-headed man sitting nearby and smirked at his bruised visage. Then he steered his sister farther down the aisle of seats, taking a couple towards the rear across from the young lady he'd been in the process of serving when the whole debacle started, who quirked an eyebrow at him.

Sam smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry I kind of almost knocked you over last night."

"Mhmm."

"I, uh, I guess I owe you a few shots, miss…?"

"Uhura."

"Miss Uhura, right, um… I really am sorry about-,"

"Don't worry about it, I understand." She regarded Janie for a moment, who shifted uncomfortably under her stare. "But I _will_ take you up on that offer sometime, mister…?"

"Uh, Kirk. Sam, Kirk…"

"Mister Kirk." She flashed a brief smirk. **(Hey, that rhymed! Lol)**

Then shouting was heard as several of the shuttle personnel dragged a very loudly protesting older man in civilian clothing out of the rear lavatory and plopped him down in the seat next to Janie, who once again began to fidget uncomfortably. Sam frowned. Uhura simply raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. The man then leaned over towards Janie as he began fastening his seatbelt.

"I have necrophobia, do you know what that is? A fear of dying. Space is a vacuum and if even one of these windows loosens ever so slightly, the pressure in this cabin'd drop so fast we'd all explode, then the temperature'd dop and our insides'd freeze and all the air would rush out so whatever's left of us would suffocate and there's no one to stop us from gravitatin' right into the sun where the shuttle'd explode and we'd all burn to death."

All of this the Southern-accented man said in one breath and without ever taking the intensity of his dark eyes off of the fidgeting young blonde next him.

"B-but, Starfleet is all about w-working in space-," his sister managed to get out.

"Yeah, I know, but the wife left me no choice. Took half the planet in the goddamn divorce and left me with nothin' but my bare bones." He snorted, then unexpectedly softened. "Leonard McCoy. I'm on the medical track. Might I inquire as to what a pretty young lady such as yourself is going into the Academy for?" He inquired gently.

Sam burned silent holes in this _McCoy's_ head, though he seemed to go unnoticed.

"I, um, Jane. Probably ps-psychology…" she trailed off uncertainly, looking askance at her brother, who did not look at all happy about the man's flirting.

"Well since we might have a few classes together, and because it would be impolite, I'll try not to throw up on you or your body guard over there." McCoy smiled at them before taking out a silver flask and taking a large gulp. "You look like you need it with him around." He held it out to the blonde who looked at Sam once again before turning back and bashfully shaking her head. "Who is your overzealous boyfriend there, anyway?" he teased, though not blaming him, seeing as she _was_ quite attractive, and he would most likely react the same way to someone flirting with her were she his partner, though he would definitely be much more vocal about it.

Jane's eyes widened in horror at that question and she hid her face, blushing darkly, mortified.

Sam's glare intensified at the accusation as he growled angrily, "She's my sister."

Uhura laughed so loudly that even Cupcake stared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: This brilliant writing is by an independent author that don't own NO Trek!**

**AN: Wow, I really didn't expect to get, like, any response, so all those follows and favorites were so awesome, they just inspired me to get writing, so thanks SO much, everyone! If you're just following for the prospect of a good Romance story, imma warn you right here and right now that I have no BetaReader and no fucking clue. Normally my terrible memory and heavy course load would keep me from even reading fanfics, but y'all've been so nice, here I am!**

**-ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE! Lol, sorry, had to. Anyway, imma try and switch to Janie's POV for this one, so we'll see how badly it crashes and burns. FOR SCIENCE! :D**

Jane stepped off the shuttle bringing her and her now infamous brother back from their summer vacation of more work, and, naturally, more fights, back in Riverside. She sighed. There were only so many places in Riverside to work for, and at this rate Sam'll have been fired from all of them before they graduate. Frustrated, she pursed her lips and gazed down at the empty slot in the early morning of her schedule this year. She got the feeling that she knew exactly what she was going to fill it with, after all her brother couldn't look after her forever, and he couldn't keep getting fired because of her either.

Preoccupied with exactly how she wanted to go about implementing her little idea, she only partially acknowledged her brother's goodbye, knowing she would see him later. Her legs carried her automatically towards the suite-style dorm she had shared since freshman year with Uhura (much to her amusement), Christine and Gaila. They'd all become great friends after all, so maybe they could help her with this. Before she could even finish that train of thought she walked right into a wall. 'Leonard's right. I do need to stop staring at the ground when I walk.' She thought absentmindedly, then looking up, realized it wasn't a wall.

"Oh… Oh. O-oh! I am s-so sorry! I um, I, I-," Jane quickly gathered her things against her chest, and clutched her arms to herself tightly as intense brown eyes stared down at her with one eyebrow quirked, the lack of emotion seeming paradoxically intense. "S-so, so s-sorry, u-um, sir-," She noticed belatedly the black color of his uniform and felt herself go pink with embarrassment. The gazes resting on her only made her feel worse. "S-sir, um, C-commander? Captain? I, uh-," And _god dammit why didn't he just say something_?! Couldn't he see her _floundering_ here?! She was _shaking_ for Pete's sake!

"Commander will do just fine, thank you."

"A-ah, yes, Commander, I-I, ah, apologize f-for, um-," Here her rather impressive string of words was smoothly cut short as his once again eerily inflectionless baritone silenced her.

"At ease Cadet, I assure you no offense was taken." The Commander's head quirked subtly to one side, his eyebrow falling but otherwise remaining expressionless.

"Y-yes, Commander, th-thank you." She snapped off what must have been a warp speed salute before hastily ducking away from the unnerving man. Jane hunched her shoulders in, hoping to lose his intensely empty gaze as she slipped into the crowd. The feeling of his eyes boring holes into her head, however, would not leave her for at least an hour yet, and she quite nearly forgot why she was going to talk to her suite-mates before move-in day in the first place.

GUESS WHOOOOO DUN-DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUN! ABOUT A WEEK LATER

Now that the foggy weather had cleared up, Jane could finally start putting her new morning routine into practice as she filled that annoying free period on her schedule. Having Gaila consent to come with her upon realizing that she too had a morning reprieve in her course load made it just that much more enjoyable. Not only had Jane heard that Tai Chi could be relaxing and good for your health, but also that it built patience, balance, strength, and could even be used as a possible form of self-defense.

The club president was a rather amiable (though she may not seem it) Vulcan that prided herself on knowing at least the basics of all forms of martial arts from both the Terran and Vulcan cultures. T'Remberale was quite willing to accept rookies into their sessions, something for which Jane was particularly grateful, as the other, more aggressive martial arts clubs were more for competing than relaxing, and she didn't think she could handle that kind of stress. 'No,' she thought, remembering the unpleasant comments she'd received on her physical capability when trying for the other clubs and dojos on campus, 'I _definitely_ could not handle that.'

No matter how encouraging (neutral, but Jane liked to think she was being encouraging) their instructor seemed, Jane still felt oddly out of place, and quite distinctly ungraceful next to her Orion suite-mate. Gaila was moving slowly, steadily and confidently through the various open-handed short forms that T'Remberale was currently teaching them. She moved like opaque green molasses, so fluid it made you think for a second that she may not be solid.

Huffing in frustration, Jane quickly realized how ridiculous it was to be jealous over her friend's abilities. Everyone had their talents, after all. That was one thing she knew for certain, seeing as she was the only one in the whole suite that could cook a decent meal without relying on pre-packaged foods, something that her friends had professed envy for on multiple occasions. Really, she had no right to be jealous. Jane flicked her eyes back over her friends' perfect form; she was _something_ though. Not only all of that, but Tai Chi was designed to bring you peace, and she supposed that getting all worked up over how much better at this Gaila was than her wasn't the most peaceful thought to be dwelling on.

TRAAAAAANNNNSSSSIIIIITTIIIIOOOO- NOPE! JK, IMMA WRITE THIS ONE OUT

As the first semester came to a close, Jane found herself beginning to improve at Tai Chi, even if she occasionally required personal attention from T'Remberale or Gaila in order to master a certain form. She squealed in delight in the middle of their suite, Gaila just having helped her to learn the final form in their latest sequence. Her verdant friend sighed in mock exasperation, but still couldn't keep herself from smiling at her introverted Tai Chi partner. Janie, as she now insisted they all call her, had become much more comfortable with her suite-mates over the semesters of shared stress and midnight munchies.

Of course they weren't such close friends that Uhura, as she preferred to be called, would ever tell them anything about the science officer she was snogging, beyond the fact that he was a science officer. Just like how Gaila never revealed all of the juicy details of her nights out partying with her fellow budding archeologists. Christina wouldn't give them any hints as to what kind of research she was helping her xenopathological professor do. And Janie refused to divulge the secret recipe for her infamous, mouth-watering, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. They all had their secrets, and they all liked to keep it that way.

That's not to say that they never poked or prodded or pried. They just respected each other enough to know when to stop, since they all valued their own privacy enough to not deprive the others of it. Many an exam week night were spent giggling and teasing each other over their various idiosyncrasies more than actually studying since none of them were even in the same field. Gaila was in the archeology track. Christine was in the medical track with Leonard, and their classes sometimes coincided with Jane's, who was in the psychology track. Even Uhura's communications track occasionally led her to taking the same classes as Gaila, so they weren't completely isolated, even if they generally had different schedules.

Sam ended up being the odd one out, much to Jane's disappointment and discomfort during their freshman year, as he had decided to go into the command track. He was like her security blanket, and not having him around all the time had made her very first semester much more nerve-wracking than it should have been. Luckily Leonard and Christine were there for just enough of her classes that she began to relax, and Sam grudgingly admitted that it was alright for his suite-mate to be around his little sister since he helped her in class. He still flirted, the incorrigible tease, but she'd learned to take it much better after the first few months, though he still made her blush fairly often.

Whenever she wasn't cooking, baking, spending time with her friends or brother, or lately, practicing Tai Chi, she was studying. Captain Pike had managed to somehow snag them a full ride at the Academy if they could maintain their grades, and there was no way Jane was going to take that for granted. She noticed the decisions Christine had to make in order to maintain her job down at the mall so she could help pay for her tuition, and she saw just how much sleep Uhura sacrificed to keep her work-study status in order to help pay for her tuition; Gaila's parents were wealthy enough to send her here without debt. So Jane was often easy to find either in the library or behind their dorm building with her nose stuck in a book. None of them wanted to get pushed into active duty in order to pay off severe student loan debts.

Sure, they all understood that service would be required of them once they graduated anyway, but Starfleet had more than enough members at the moment and only a limited amount of credits that could go towards their education every year, so in order to raise both recruitment and funding, they kept the Academy open like a regular college, except that if you couldn't pay off your tuition, they would simply recruit you into the Reserves or to small tasks like patrolling a colony or maintaining some random, lonely outpost and take it out of your paycheck. The more you owed them, the more likely you were to get put on active duty and sent to either the Klingon or Romulan border, where the more dangerous and high-paying jobs were. It didn't seem so bad until you did the calculations for whatever little, unimportant post they stuck you in and realized just how many pay checks they'd be swiping from you. Even though the galaxy was certainly crawling with super intelligent species higher education wasn't cheap, and Jane tended to like being able to make her own decisions about where she'd live and what job she'd take, _thank you very much_.

So it certainly wasn't a surprise when Janie grabbed her bag after calming down with a quick glass of water and said she would be out on the common with Leonard, studying for their neurotransmitters quiz.

"Girl, I swear, you really should just kiss that man." Gaila grinned mercilessly at her friend's reddening cheeks.

Janie just choked out something about coming back later and fled, her hands winding tightly into her long blonde hair as she bit her lip. 'Maybe I should just go to the library today. It is pretty cloudy out.' Nodding, she decided that the library would be her best bet. 'Sammy's probably roping him into something like he usually does anyway.' She mentally rolled her eyes before tucking her head down into her hunched-up shoulders (though she didn't stare at the ground anymore, learned that lesson the hard way, literally) and rushing towards the West side of campus. The library there was particularly nice in that even a few of the Vacuum Rooms (they jokingly called them that due to their complete and total silence) had floor-to-ceiling windows where you could see out onto the bay. Those went fast though, which meant she would have to hurry to get one before the Sunday cram-session students took them all over.

"Hey! ...Janie!" She stumbled a bit at the sound of Leonard's voice. "I thought we had a date?" Leonard stared at her, eyebrows furrowed.

'Damn him!' She blushed, automatically averting her gaze towards the sidewalk beneath her feet. She took a shaky breath, prepared to splutter some lame excuse about wanting to be alone when he broke off her train of thought with an easy chuckle.

"Relax, sweetheart, I was just teasin' ya."

Now blushing with indignity, Janie pressed her lips into a thin line, struggling to keep her exasperated gaze on his stubbly smirking face.

"A-are we going to st-study or not?"

His face broke out into a full-blown grin at her annoyed tone.

"Yeah, sure, I guess." He led her back over to the spot he'd already been occupying when she tried to walk by, PADD lying face-down in the grass; looks like Sammy wasn't keeping him occupied. If there was one thing she'd noticed about her brother, it's that he was certainly much less overbearing when they were on campus. She didn't blame him, though. After all, this place felt more like home to them than Riverside, Iowa did now, or it did to her at least. She could only conclude that Sammy felt the same for him to be acting this way, especially around Leonard, who he'd apparently nearly beat to a pulp during their first week in-suite together.

Sighing, she looked sympathetically over at the older Cadet sitting next to her; some things never changed. Brow furrowed in concentration as he skimmed over the chart of empathic neurotransmitters, she couldn't deny that Leonard was a handsome man. He looked back up at her and suddenly Gaila's words raced back to the forefront of her thoughts.

"Girl, I swear, you really should just kiss that man."

Eyes widening in alarm, she whipped her head back around to face her own PADD and let her hands flutter over the touch screen, trying frantically to remember which excitatory chemical she had been in the process of memorizing; she determined not to think any ore on the subject.

"Janie? Are you alright?" He sounded both worried and amused at the same time.

"N-n-nothing, it's nothing, nothing…"

"If you say so. But it is rude to stare. If you'd wanted to look at me you could've just said so." Oh, she could _hear_ the smirk in that one.

'I need to stop _blushing_, goddammit!' Janie thought, frustrated with herself for the umpteenth time that day. Sometimes she really wished she had confidence, except that that sometimes was about once every one-and-a-half seconds. Really, she would love to be able to go more than half-a-minute in the company of someone besides her brother without having to curl her bangs around her fingers or bite her lip or shuffle around uncomfortably. Making eye contact and actually being able to speak to her commanding officers would be nice, too. As soon as she graduated and got her officer's commission, she determined that she would take up a position in research, preferably on some tropical, sparsely populated planet where she could spend her time studying the psyche of various non-communicative species.

Eventually the clouds started to darken ominously. Declaring their study session officially over with a joking, overly-flourished and elaborate bow, Leonard helped her pack up her things before he unceremoniously shoved all of his materials into his bag. He said a quick goodbye and said he'd give her regards to Sam before breaking into a light jog towards his dorm.

Feeling much more at ease now that their study session had gone on as planned and without a hitch, Janie decided to make her way to the library so that she could download a copy of the book her psychology professor had assigned them on Friday. Looking up, she estimated that she would have enough time before the storm hit. Normally she would download this from her dorm, but she had a textbook that she needed to remove from her PADD before she would have enough room for _Sybil_, and Uhura still hadn't returned her data stick.

Striding right for the nearest interface as soon as she walked in, she stumbled for the second time that day upon seeing Uhura. Her back to the door, she had her fingers intertwined with that of a very familiar tall, dark-haired figure. Both were gazing intently at a terminal as he navigated through the library's catalogue.

'Today is just _not_ my day.' Janie mentally cringed as she sucked in a steadying breath and tried to turn around and leave. 'I can always just ask her for the data stick when we-I-she gets ba-

_CRACK!_

'Dammit.' She groaned in her head as the clouds opened up and rain began pouring onto the concrete in front of the sliding glass doors. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the tall man's ears twitch, which, she realized for the first time, were pointed, and no doubt highly sensitive. Fidgeting and hunching her shoulders in, she tried to make herself as indistinct as possible in that bright red Cadet's uniform. She _felt _her suite-mate turn around, and was in the middle of frantically debating whether or not it was worth going out there just to avoid her when the long fingernails inevitably tapped her on the shoulder. Feeling Uhura's irritated gaze bore into her back, she merely hunched her shoulders even more in guilt and trepidation. Her hands automatically found their way into her hair and clenched tightly.

"It's alright, Janie, I'm not mad at you." Uhura sighed gently.

Jane slowly relaxed her muscles at this reassurance, letting her digits resume their normal tangling with her hair, though her eyebrows were still scrunched doubtfully as she turned her head to peek at her friend. When nothing but weariness and amusement met her gaze, she shuffled around to face them fully. Her eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but at her suite-mate and her rather impassive boyfriend; she frowned a bit. Wasn't she forgetting someth-

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, snapping to attention. "I-I'm so sorry, Commander! …a-again…" She blinked, shame and embarrassment trickling into her voice. 'I wouldn't be surprised if my face is now permanently frozen in a worried expression.' Janie thought bitterly to herself.

Uhura recovered from her surprise only to hide her face in her hands as she attempted to quiet her giggling. Sometimes her suite-mate was just too funny.

Her boyfriend, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow. "There is no need to formally recognize me off-duty, Cadet."

"O-oh…" She relaxed her posture uncertainly, still finding his regard uncomfortable.

"Oh! That's right! Janie, this is…" Here Uhura paused momentarily, as if unsure how to introduce her own boyfriend "Spock. Spock, this is my suite-mate, Jane, y'know, the one that made those cookies you like so much!"

'_What_?! When did she give him my cookies?!' She blinked. 'And isn't Spock one of her language prof- Oh, shit…' Janie's eyes were saucers as she switched her gaze back and forth between the two. 'No wonder she didn't want anyone to know about this…'


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I'm not THAT rich…**

**AN: Sorry for some mistakes 'n things, like whenever I upload it, most my transitions get un-underlined, and other grammatical errors that I'm too lazy to go back and fix even though they annoy the crap out of me. Also, it turns out Gaila was a mechanic/computer info major, which is how the illustrious capitaine cheated in the movie, but that shouldn't be a problem here. Anyway, enjoy, duckies! ^^**

"U-umm…" Janie stammered. "N-Nice to mee-meet you, uh, Commander? Spock…?" She floundered, squirming a bit as Uhura's eyes glittered expectantly at her. After a brief moment of hesitation she slowly extended her hand.

The Vulcan (she didn't know any other race with those ears) looked from his partner back to Janie with seeming newfound interest after hearing the bit about her cookies. Simply staring at her, however, he refused to take her hand, and barely even glanced at it. Embarrassed when she suddenly remembered the significance that tactile contact carried in the Vulcan culture as T'Remberale had lectured her when she first asked for assistance, she withdrew her hand, wincing. 'Now he just thinks I'm ignorant _and_ socially impaired; nice job, Janie.'

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance as well." He nodded.

Janie relaxed her shoulders minutely when he didn't comment on her blunder. Maybe he wasn't quite as judgmental as she thought he was. Uhura let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief and seemed to relax, which explained a lot. Clearly she was tired of having to hide her boyfriend from everyone, and judging from the way she shot Janie a grateful look it must've been her idea. Her Vulcan partner, on the other hand, was as neutral as a spectator to a sporting event that he didn't care to be at, sliding his gaze from one young woman to another.

"So, um, I was wondering i-if I could get my data stick back, uh, please…?" I shuffled a bit, uncomfortably glancing around the bustling first floor, all the study groups and project teams unaware of the storm still raging outside, or just not paying attention, as college students are wont to do.

"Hm? Oh, sure!" My suite-mate dug around in her bag for a bit before handing me the tiny piece of polycarbonate and metal. "So, how did your study session with Leonard go?" She flashed a sly grin.

"You're all gonna be the death of me one day." Janie groaned, grabbing the data stick from Uhura and getting out her PADD.

She walked over to an empty table and sat down to begin downloading and reading her book. If her friend expected her to talk about those sorts of things in front of her rather icy boyfriend, whom she just met, she had another thing coming. She wasn't _that_ comfortable around Mr. Pointy yet. Her roommates gave her enough grief, and her brother gave him enough threats. He gave everyone enough threats as a matter of fact. At this realization she frowned; she really should stop him before he picked a fight with someone he couldn't handle, as if he hadn't done that before, but they were in a bigger world now, where connections mattered and you couldn't go beating people up around every corner.

Putting down her PADD she looked outside; it was still pouring. Huffing, she picked her PADD back up to see that _Sybil_ was ready and raring to go, her Xenoneurology text book neatly stored in her data stick for later. Smiling, she figured that she would probably be there for a while, so she decided that she might as well go get herself a hot drink. Being one of the few things in the library café that wasn't replicated, their coffee tended to be a bit pricey, but damn if those mochas weren't worth it. Lecturing her brother could wait until after the storm died down, after all, the odds of him getting into much trouble right now were probably slim; he was probably in just as much of a tizzy over doing all of his homework last-minute as everyone else here.

She was about to grab her things and head upstairs to the quieter levels to avoid all of the racket when who but Cold and Calculating himself has to take the seat in front of her. 'No. No. No. No.' Janie flicked her eyes over to her suite-mate, who was smiling encouragingly at her beau. 'I did _not_ come here for spontaneous bonding time!' She pleaded with her eyes. Looking reluctantly back at the Commander he seemed to be messaging his girlfriend with his regard also, something along the same lines, probably.

It's not like she blamed him. Both of their expressions and body language just screamed "awkward", as awkward as a Vulcan could look to be, anyway. Janie could understand her friend's desire to have others approve of her boyfriend, but clearly neither of them wanted this, and other than there not being another seat, there was no reason why she had to have them do it alone. Deflated, she picked her PADD up and halfheartedly tried to appear engrossed in her book, occasionally taking sips of her coffee as she did so. Maybe if she looked occupied enough he wouldn't address her, so she wouldn't have to interact with him.

"Your features bear a certain resemblance to another student of mine by the name of Samuel George Kirk. Am I correct in assuming that you are related?" He more stated than asked.

'Dammit.' Flicking her gaze up to his and then back down again she nodded briefly. 'Wait.' She blinked. 'He knows my brother? Oh God, he knows my brother.' She cringed mentally, slowly raising her eyes back up, only to notice that his eyes were narrowed in concentration slightly. It was as if his ultra-advanced Vulcan mind couldn't seem to register how in the cosmos her bold, hot-tempered brother could possibly be related to her in any way other than the physical. All she could think to do was smile at him sheepishly and fiddle with her PADD.

"I-I'm so sorry if he has caused any t-trouble in class, sir. He can be rather, uh…protective, and, er, temperamental…"

"So I have noticed, Cadet Kirk." Some bonding, but if he made an effort, she supposed it would only be polite if she did the same.

"I-I'm sorry about, uh, earlier, when I tried to- my Tai Chi instructor has told me it-it's not p-polite to, um, y-y'know, with the hands, because Vulcans are, uh-"

"Apology accepted, Cadet. It was a simple lapse of etiquette. As a half-human, my mother has instructed me of Terran greetings."

"Oh." That would explain why he wouldn't have been averse to trying one of my cookies. Even if white chocolate isn't technically chocolate **(yes, there was a reason I chose that cookie in particular)**, most Vulcans don't know that, and would refuse it simply on the grounds of what it's called. "S-so I take it y-your mother t-taught you about, uh, Terran, food?"

"Yes, although she does not cook very often, as she does not know many vegetarian recipes."

Though he delivered it emotionlessly, Janie almost imagined that she could hear wistfulness in his tone. Vulcans tend to be adamant about preferring actual food to anything out of a replicator, most likely due to the fact that they were very fond of certain flavors in their dishes that could only be created using spices containing chemicals that were poisonous to most of the other races in Starfleet. Here on Earth, most urban or suburban places used replicators for high convenience and low cost. If his mother didn't grow up in the country like Janie did, she probably wouldn't know how to cook very much, and even if she did pass all of those skills down to him, Janie seriously doubted that he had much time to cook for himself, being a Commander, Science Officer, and professor for Xenolinguistics.

"W-well um, maybe I could give it a uh, maybe I could, g-give it a shot?" It couldn't hurt. She'd made a few dishes for T'Remberale as thanks for helping her in private before. Janie tugged at her bangs a bit as he seemed to be considering her offer. 'That was so stupid! Now what's Uhura gonna think? I don't wanna look like I'm trying to steal Tall Dark and Silent here!' "U-um, i-it, uh, w-we could invite e-everyone, after, um, after m-midterms, maybe?"

"That sounds perfectly agreeable. I shall inform Nyota."

With that the Vulca- half-Vulcan, she reminded herself, probably glad of an excuse to leave the table, got up and nodded to her, pushing his chair in before he went off to find his girlfriend. Janie sighed in relief, all but face-planting into her mocha. That was intense. As she took a moment to calm down and finish her cooling drink, the entirety of the conversation slapped her right in the prefrontal cortex and she nearly choked on her precious caffeine. She had just invited the very definition of "cold shoulder" to a big dinner with her and all of her friends in less than a month; and she volunteered to cook that dinner. Groaning, she gathered her things, tossed her empty cup into the nearest recycle bin, and made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could before she get herself into anything worse.

After the storm finally settled, she slowly made her way back to the suite and saw her friends chillin' on the sofa, snacking on crab rangoons and steamed dumplings. She rolled her eyes; Christine worked in the food court at some mall they always forgot to visit her at downtown, and apparently the manager of the Chinese food stand had a thing for her, so she almost always ended up bringing back something. They were always the envy of the hallway for having the best food- free takeout, non-replicated baked goods, homemade fried chicken whenever Leonard visited his 70-something-year-old grandma to convince her to stop eating it because her plaque buildup was "as thick as Sam's skull when he thinks he's right."

Gaila winked at her when she sat down and plucked a rangoon from the bag. "So, did you follow my advice?" Janie froze, her jaw hanging open and the fried flower of absolute deliciousness stopped in the middle of its trip to her taste buds. 'Oh dear God…'

"Ooooh, what advice?" Christine giggled mischievously. Uhura grinned expectantly at the Orion, who smirked deviously.

"I told her that she should kiss Leonard. They had a little study-date today!" The others ooh-ed and giggled appropriately.

"For your information, I did nothing of the sort." Janie stated firmly, popping the crunchy wonton in her mouth as a sign that she refused to divulge anything more on the subject.

"Aww, c'mon!"

"Janiiie!"

"That man really does like you, you know that, right?"

"He does not! It's just a little friendly banter, flirting, whatever! The point is that Leonard does not have romantic feelings for me!" She denied vehemently before taking a bite out of another rangoon.

"That doesn't mean that you don't have romantic feelings for him." Her eyes widened when this was pointed out to her and she almost choked on her food. 'Dammit!'

After some snickering and a few gulps of water she firmly declared "I do not have romantic feelings for Leonard. Sure, he's attractive, bu-"

"_See!_ You do like him!"

"That's no-"

"Oh, come on. Leonard asks me about you every day in class!"

"He asks about all of us every day in class!"

"Well yeah, but what about your brother?! You know how protective he is! Sam wouldn't argue nearly so much with Leonard if he didn't like you!"

"That's a low blow and you know it." Janie deadpanned.

"Still!"

"You guys should so hook up!"

"Y'know, you're so lucky to have suite-mates that are romantically competent."

Oh, that was rich; Janie rolled her eyes at that one. "You're one to talk."

"I wanted you to get to know each other since you seemed to be so uncomfortable with each other!"

"So you thought leaving us sitting alone together awkwardly would be the best solution?"

"But now look, you even invited him over to dinner!"

"Pshh…"

"He seemed rather excited about that, actually. Should I be worried about anything?"

"Oh, God, no." Janie combed her fingers through her hair. "That's why I invited everyone."

Christine cut in when Uhura opened up her mouth to reply by sticking a steamed dumpling in her maw, inciting a glare from the tawny-skinned female. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. Hold on a sec there. What in the galaxy are you talking about?"

Unable to reply due to furious chewing, Janie stopped giggling to answer "I ran into _Nyota_ and her _man_ on accident at the library a while ago having their own little study-date!" She then leaned over to Gaila and pretended to whisper loudly "Make-out session!" Uhura's face went bright red at that, her chewing turning into a long, embarrassed swallow. 'Did she really think I didn't know what a Vulcan kiss is? By their standards, her "honorable professor" might as well have been half-naked with her on a table in the middle of the café.'

Gaila fell back on the arm of the sofa, convulsing in laughter "Hahahahahaha! Y-you really are one to t-talk! Hahahahahaha! Th-the irony! Hahahaha!"

Christine's jaw probably would've unhinged if she weren't smiling so widely at the same time "Oh. My. God. Did you seriously?!" Janie just nodded. "This means you can't hold back anymore!" Christine squealed. "Who is he? What species is he? What does he look like? Is he hot? Any firsts yet? Is he good in bed?"

Uhura spit her water all over the table at Christine's last question. Janie started giggling so hard she started snorting trying to catch her breath. Gaila rolled over onto the floor, almost hitting her head on the coffee table as she positively shrieked with laughter. When Uhura recovered from her brief coughing fit she sat up, breathing heavily, and stared incredulously at the excited platinum blonde bouncing in her seat, eyes glittering with anticipation and smile curving up with mischief. Huffing, Uhura refused to even speak until they stopped laughing at her, telling them that they were acting like immature children.

"Haha, s-says the g-girl who hahaha, ha-has to hide her b-boyfriend!"

"Yeah, in plain sight!" A new round of laughter started up, and Christine joined in, unable to hold it in anymore.

"Wh-what happened, ahaha, to-to your prefect pre- haha, precautions? Hahahahaha!"

The girl in mention puffed her cheeks out indignantly, sending Janie into a new round of snorts and Christine onto her knees besides Gaila, who had half brought herself up, starting to calm down and saw her suite-mate's face, pointing and falling back down anew with cackles.

"I really don't understand how this is can be so funny to you." Uhura snapped, irritated, as she folded her arms and kicked her feet up onto the table.

"I-I'm so, so ss-hahahaha-sorry ahahaha!" Janie doubled over putting her hands over her face as she tried to control herself.

"Y-yeah, hahaha, me, haha, to, hahahahaha!" Grabbing a cheap napkin, Christine blotted at the tears beginning to leak from her eyes.

Their Orion suite-mate simply let her laughter die out as she lay there on the floor and clutched at her stomach "Hahahahahaha, oh, oh God, hahahaha, oh, it hurts, hahahaha, it-it hurts, hahahahahaha!"

After they'd all calmed down, Uhura raised her brow "Are you done now?"

"Haha, yeah, I, haha, I think so…" Gaila pulled herself back onto the couch and lay down with her head in Janie's lap, who began idly playing with her beautiful red hair.

"Janie walked in on us spending some quality time- Don't you even start!" She smarted, hearing Gaila start snorting "Helping-" Here she glanced at Janie who gave her a look that just said one of them was gonna say it, one way or another. She sighed "helping my boyfriend Spock do a little research in the library. We were _just_ holding hands, alright?"

Of course, being the only other one in the room that attended Tai Chi with Janie and therefore had T'Remberale as an instructor, Gaila figured it out almost instantly. Her eyes widened and she looked at Janie, who winked at her, folding her fingers together like she saw Spock and Uhura do. A smile grew big and wide on her face as she looked at Uhura, absolutely unable to believe that she had gotten any Vulcan to go to that extent in a public display of affection. Everything clicked completely into place when Christina whipped her head around to gaze at Uhura, jaw back on the ground.

"Your _Xenolinguistics professor_?! Wha- how- wheh- whay- _what_?!"

Reaching over, Janie slowly pushed her friend's mandible back up into place. "You'll catch flies that way, honey." Looking back over at Uhura she seemed to stare back, unimpressed, saying 'Oh yeah? Tell me you didn't react in the exact same way.' Janie simply gave her a satisfied smirk in return. 'That should keep them off of my back about Leonard for a while.'

Suddenly Gaila came back to reality. "Wait, didn't you mention something about dinner with this guy earlier? And everyone?"

Triumphant, Uhura returned Janie's smirk, and even stuck her tongue out at her suite-mate before smoothly getting up off of the couch and walking to the kitchen to put all of their cold leftovers in the fridge, leaving Janie to explain all about it. It was her idea, after all. Janie sighed for what must have been the umpteenth time that day. Really, what had she gotten herself into when she accepted Captain Pike's offer?


End file.
